'Dr Joanna McHugh Power in successful ESRC bid

We are proud to announce that Dr Joanna McHugh Power is a co-investigator on the successful ESRC bid entitled "SPACE: Supportive Environments for Physical and Social Activity, Healthy Ageing, and Cognitive Health". This trans-disciplinary project involves collaboration between public health science, complexity science, epidemiology, urban planning, geography, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science. The project is led by Dr Ruth Hunter, at Queen's University Belfast. 
 

The overarching aim of the three-year project is to investigate the impacts (and potential mechanistic pathways) of urban environments on healthy ageing and cognitive functioning, within diverse individuals and communities, through the novel integration of multi-omics, lifestyle behaviour and environmental exposures from urban environments. The project incorporates a range of methodologies, using participatory group model building to develop an initial evidence-based conceptual framework (which can later be tested empirically using existing data from the NICOLA study - Northern Irish Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing); to create and link spatial environmental data to NICOLA healthy ageing outcomes; to use multi-omic approaches to inspect biological responses to the urban environment, and to incorporate co-development by involving citizen juries and expert panels (comprising multisectoral stakeholders). Ultimately, our aim is to create healthy active places that are supportive, attractive, and accessible to people as they age.